Every day in the NBA there is a lot to unpack, so every weekday morning throughout the season we will give you the three things you need to know from the last 24 hours in the NBA.

1) Damian Lillard goes off for a Portland-record 10 three-pointers in Blazers’ victory. When Damian Lillard gets hot —yes, I believe in the hot-hand theory, so sue me — there is no more dangerous player in the NBA.

Wednesday night, Lillard was hot — 10 three-pointers made on his way to 41 points, sparking a 115-112 win over Orlando. Lillard was 10-of-15 from three on the night.

The previous Portland record had been nine threes in a game, which Lillard co-held with Nicolas Batum. The Blazers also tied a team record with 12 threes in the first half. They ended up needing all of that against a pesky Orlando team that is playing everyone tough right now behind the career-best play ofNikola Vucevic.

2) Kyle Korver will help but isn’t the answer in Utah. The scuffling Utah Jazz got a little better on Wednesday.

For one thing, the Jazz got Donovan Mitchell back from injury, their offense looked less bad (not quite good, but better) as Utah got a win on the road in Brooklyn. That improved the Jazz to 10-12 and moved them up to 13th in the crowded West (still way below expectations, we all thought this was a top-three team in the West before the season).

Utah also got better because they traded for Kyle Korver. The Jazz are sending Alec Burks and two future second-round picks (theirs in 2020 and the Wizards in 2021) to Cleveland for the 37-year-old sharpshooter.

The trade should make Utah a little better, but it isn’t a game changer — they still need a high-quality secondary playmaker to take some of the pressure off Mitchell. However, Korver should help the second unit.

As a team, the Jazz have struggled from three this season, shooting 31.9 percent, third worst in the league. Joe Ingles has carried the team’s shooting load hitting 38.5 percent from three on six attempts per game, but the rest of the team combined is shooting 30.2 percent from deep. Donovan Mitchell is taking 6.7 threes a game and hitting 28.9 percent, Jae Crowder is 6.2 per game and is knocking down 29.2 percent, and even Grayson Allen — drafted out of Duke as a shooter — is at 28.6 percent. Second spectrum tracking data shows the Jazz as a team are generating good looks but not hitting the shot — Utah as a team is shooting 31.1 percent on open threes (defender 4-6 feet away) and 34.5 percent on wide open threes (defender more than six feet away, Utah’s shooting percentage on those is sixth worst in the league).

Korver is shooting 46.3 percent from beyond the arc this season on 3.4 attempts per game. The Jazz need that.

Expect Korver to play with Utah’s second unit — the Jazz have really struggled with their shooting and spacing the second Ingles goes to the bench. Now Korver will come in and provide some of that shooting. Korver is 37 and will be 38 before the playoffs start, he doesn’t move as well as he once did and the Jazz will get torched a few times on defense because of him, but when the Jazz have the ball defenders can’t leave him. The Jazz are a system team, they can run Korver off a series of picks to get him looks and the defenses will have to respect him.

Korver isn’t the answer to all the Jazz problems — their defense has been average this season (and just bad when Rudy Gobert sits) and they need another playmaker — but he helps them in a key area. Korver makes them better.

And the price was not that steep, but was as good a haul as Cleveland could expect. Burks can give them some nightly minutes on the wing this season, and he is in the last year of his contract so he helps free up some cap space for Cleveland. With this deal happening now, it’s also possible the Cavs could flip Burks in another deal at the trade deadline. The two second-round pick is about right — no team was giving up a first for Korver — and that 2021 Washington one has the potential to be a high second rounder with some real value.

3) After thrashing by Dallas 128-108, Houston is now the 14-seed in the West. Going into this season we expected the Rockets to be the second-best team in the West, third best at worst. It felt like they took a step back in the off-season on the wing, but this team still had the MVP James Harden, plus Chris Paul and Clint Capela.

After getting crushed by Dallas 128-108 on Wednesday, the 9-11 Rockets are the 14 seed in the West. (The good news for Houston is it’s the crowded West, so it is just 1.5 games out of the playoffs and, amazingly, five games out of first place.)

The Rockets were without Chris Paul again Wednesday (hamstring) and guys missing time has been one factor in the slow start for the Rockets. But it’s more than that. Carmelo Anthony is gone, Jeff Bzdelik is back on the bench as an assistant coach, and yet the defense is still a disaster — third worst in the NBA for the season, worst in the NBA by 5.1 points per 100 possessions in the last five games.

The Rockets’ roster is top-heavy, but that’s how it is with contenders (the Warriors have the same situation). The problem in Houston is Daryl Morey’s off-season bets on role players have not worked out at all — it’s not just that Trevor Ariza, Luc Mbah a Moute, and Ryan Anderson are gone, it’s that their replacements (Carmelo Anthony, Michael Carter-Williams, Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss) have not worked out. At all. Then you throw in the injuries, not just to CP3 but to Gerald Green and Nene, and you have a team that just lacks depth and continuity. The nights Harden can’t bail them out, they lose (and sometimes, even when he drops 54, they lose).

When the Rockets get healthy they will be good enough to make the playoffs (the team is 8-4 when both Paul and Harden play), but they are not the team we thought they could be. Morey is actively looking for trades that will help fill in the wing depth, but that may be too little, too late at this point.

This early in the season there is still a lot of volatility in the rankings, with teams making big leaps (or big falls) as we start to figure out who they really are. We do know the Warriors are very, very good. Looks like the Bucks may be, too.

1. Warriors (7-1, last week No 3). Golden State’s offense has been incendiary to start the season — Stephen Curry had a 51-point game and is aggressively hunting his shot again, Kevin Durant knows he can score from anywhere at any time, and then Monday Klay Thompson unleashed 14 threes on the poor Bulls. The Warriors are scoring at a 120 points per 100 possessions pace, more than 5 points better than anyone else in the NBA this season and more than 7 better than they were last season. And it feels like they can sustain this.

2. Bucks (7-0, LW 4). The NBA’s last undefeated team, the Bucks haven’t just won games they have dominated — Milwaukee has led by at least 16 points in every game this season. While coach Mike Budenholzer gets (and deserves) credit for opening up the offense, the real key is the Bucks have the second-best defense in the league (Boston) and is one of only two teams allowing less than a point per possession this season. The Bucks are playing a simpler, easier to understand system and are thriving in it. Great test Thursday night against those Celtics (on TNT).

3. Raptors (7-1, LW. 1). Tuesday night Kawhi Leonard showed what he means to this team — he smothered Ben Simmons and was a key reason the Sixers’ star had 11 turnovers on the night. Oh, and Leonard had 31 points in the game, too. It’s too early to use these words in any meaningful way, but Leonard has played at an MVP level to open the season. After a home-heavy schedule to start, the Raptors have 8-of-11 on the road starting Friday in Phoenix.

4. Nuggets (5-1, LW 2).. Denver’s offense still has not found it’s groove to start the season, specifically the team is taking 28.7 threes a game (25th in the league) and is shooting 29.7% on those so far (for comparison, the team took 30.9 threes a game last season and it 37.1%). Gary Harris is shooting 26.9% so far but that will improve. The Nuggets’ defense has slipped a little but is still third rated in the NBA and is covering for the offense until that train gets rolling. Good home tests Saturday and Monday with Utah and Boston.

5. Trail Blazers (5-2, LW 7).Damian Lillard finished fourth in the MVP voting last season and is coming out playing even better this season: 29.6 points per game, shooting 37.7 percent from three, with a 65.9 true shooting percentage and a 30.6 PER, every one of those a career best. So far 71 percent of his shots are threes or at the rim. It’s stunning. Lillard led the Blazers to a 3-1 record on a recent road trip with some quality wins (Indiana, Houston, if Houston is still a quality win) and now the Blazers are home for six in a row.

6. Celtics (5-2, LW 9). After a rough start to the season on offense the Celtics are starting to find their groove, including scoring 217 points in a home-and-home sweep of the Pistons. Kyrie Irving found himself in that second Pistons win, scoring 31 on 16 shots, before that the offense has leaned on Marcus Morris. Yes, Marcus Morris — and he’s been up to the task off the bench. Saturday starts a tough five game road trip for the Celtics.

7. Jazz (4-2, LW 14). Good to see Grayson Allen find a groove against Dallas, 11 points and a +17 when forced into a larger role. Donovan Mitchell has stopped pressing and the Utah offense is starting to fall into place during a three-game win streak on the road (the Jazz are an impressive 4-0 on the road to start the season). Utah’s offense is two points per 100 possessions better this season than last (so far) and improvement on that end is the key to taking the next step forward for this team. Fun Rudy Gobert vs. Karl-Anthony Towns showdown on Wednesday night.

8. Pelicans (4-2, LW 5). Two losses in a row for the Pelicans but both without Anthony Davis (elbow) so we’re not going to read much into that. The starting lineup is still a beast when Davis is healthy, outscoring teams by 34.4 points per 100 (and the elbow thing isn’t serious). The loss in Denver was the start of a five-game road trip against potential West playoff teams, a road trip where the Pelicans could use to get Davis back and make a showing because, while it’s early, in the ridiculously deep West these are the games that will matter in the end.

9. Pacers (4-3, LW 8). While the Pacers are 4-3 to start the season, they are outscoring teams by 6.3 points per 100 possessions, which is sixth best in the league (that per-possessions data suggests they should be at least 5-2). The big key for the Pacers is their shooting, they have hit a league-best 43 percent of their shots from three — but they take the league’s fewest shots from three, 22.6 per game. Victor Oladipo has found a groove and is back to being his old self, and with that the Pacers are showing last season was not some one-off fluke. Now we’ll see if they can take a step forward off it.

10. Pistons (4-2, 6). Boston’s defense made Blake Griffin look human again in a home-and-home, and the search for quality shooting and shot creators around him continues. All those wins count, but the Pistons have put together this quality start while having a -1.3 net rating, something that could catch up to them (or, they could swing their rating around) with 6-of-9 coming up on the road, almost all against other teams in the East.

12. Spurs (4-2, LW 10). San Antonio is off to a quick start but has a net rating of -3.5 per 100 possessions to start the season — either their record or that rating will correct itself. San Antonio is the second-best three-point shooting team in the league percentage wise, hitting 41.3 percent from deep this season, but with a team full of guys who like the midrange they are taking just 23 shots from three a game, third lowest in the league. What the Spurs are doing well is taking care of the ball, turning the ball over on a league-best 11.4 percent of their possessions.

13. Grizzlies (4-2, LW 17). Memphis is back to the formula we have seen for years: An elite defense that keeps them in games (fourth best in the NBA), which covers up for a bottom 10 offense. In the past that has worked well enough to keep them on the fringes of the playoff race and have a couple of good runs — when everyone stays healthy. Jaren Jackson Jr. update, the rookie is averaging 11.5 points a game on 46.3 percent shooting, with 5.2 rebounds a night and a PER of 16.7. He’s impressing.

14. Hornets (4-4, LW 16). New coach, same problem in Charlotte: The Hornets are outscoring teams by 6.1 points per 100 possessions, but have a .500 record (when they should be 5-3) because they keep losing close games. The Hornets have lost by two to the Sixers, two to the Bulls, and one to the Bucks — three losses by a total of five points. Kemba Walker continues to tear up the NBA, averaging 30.1 points and six assists per night, shooting 41.4 percent from three with a PER of 28.3.

15. 76ers (4-4, LW 11). The 76ers are taking a lot of threes, 35.9 a game (fifth most in the NBA), but they are hitting just 33.8% of them so far. Robert Covington (42.9%) and J.J. Redick (39%) are pulling their weight, but Dario Saric (23.4% on 5.9 attempts per game), Joel Embiid (29.4% on 4.3 attempts) and Markelle Fultz (30.8% but just 1.6 attempts) are building a brick house right now. When Fultz, Embiid, and non-threat from three Ben Simmons are on the floor together the Sixers are -14.2 per 100 possessions so far. The starting lineup with Fultz continues to struggle mightily on both ends of the court.

16. Kings (5-3, LW 25). I may have this team ranked too low — the Kings are playing good basketball right now, having won four in a row including a couple games on the road in Florida. De’Aaron Fox has been a second-season revelation, Willie Cauley-Stein is going to get paid like he wants if he keeps playing like this, and Buddy Hield is averaging 18.9 points per game shooting 44.7 percent from three. They have the point differential of a .500 team, so maybe this catches up with them a little, but the Kings are playing hard and much better than anyone expected.

17. Heat (3-4, LW 21).Hassan Whiteside has been critical for the Heat on both ends of the floor this season and the team has been 16.1 points per 100 possessions better when he is on the court rather than sitting. We’ll see if he can keep it up as the season moves along (consistency has been an issue) but the start has been strong. That said, if your counting, Whiteside has yet to rack up a single assist this season.

18. Timberwolves (3-4, LW 13).Jimmy Butler has upped his distraction ante, deciding to sit out Wednesday’s game in protest of not getting traded yet (I love that the team is calling it “general soreness”). Those trade talks are heating up again, but nothing is imminent and the entire situation continues to be a cloud over this team. It is part of the reason they are inconsistent. Until the Butler situation gets resolved, fans will not know what they will get from this team night to night (and gamblers may want to stay away for the same reason).

19. Thunder (2-4, LW 22).. The Thunder have won a couple games in a row (Clippers and Suns), with Russell Westbrook and Paul George having a matching 55 points each across the two games. The Oklahoma City defense is also starting to come around, it’s sixth best in the NBA as of Wednesday. The second half against the Clippers was the model of what the Thunder want to be this season, Westbrook and George were playing with pace and running an entertaining offense while the defense got enough stops. Can they build off that is the question?

20. Mavericks (2-5, LW 18). Talking to a scout about the Mavericks yielded a couple of impressions: Luka Doncic runs hot and cold as a rookie but there is a lot to like. What impressed more is how well DeAndre Jordan passes out of the high post (he had 9 assists in a loss to Utah). Jordan seems to really enjoy being put in a new role, asked to do things the Clippers did not (they had Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, you’re not making DJ a playmaker when you have those two). Plus, DJ shooting better than 80% from the free throw line makes him far more dangerous.

21. Lakers (2-5, LW 23). It’s early, but how are things going so far with LeBron James and the young core? When LeBron and Kyle Kuzma are on the court together, the Lakers have a net rating of -0.8 (per 100 possessions), basically playing teams even. LeBron and Josh Hart have a +1.5 rating together. LeBron and Lonzo Ball are -5.3 per 100. LeBron and Brandon Ingram are -6.2 per 100 — and that’s troubling because that’s the one the Lakers really need to work out.

22. Rockets (1-5, LW 15). Mike D’Antoni threatened to move away from the all-switching defense the Rockets used last season. However, he didn’t when he looked at the film and saw the numbers because the switches have not been the problem. The bigger problem in Tuesday’s loss to a tired Portland team was heart: When the Blazers made a second quarter run you could see the “here we go again” reaction from the Rockets and they folded. The Rockets are already five games back of the Warriors, and now Houston heads out on the road for 6-of-7. Then they come home to the Warriors.

23. Knicks (2-5, LW 24). Knicks fans got to dream of Kevin Durant last week (and they should soon start watching Duke games and dreaming of drafting that talent), but the Knicks themselves are playing a little better than their record indicates. Eyes Kanter is not happy coming off the bench, but the way Kris Middleton went at him and abused him in the pick-and-roll for the Bucks is a reminder of why Kanter is nice in the regular season but is hard to play in the playoffs.

24. Nets (2-5, LW 28). Three straight losses, and while its easy to forgive the ones to the Warriors and the Pelicans, the Knicks handling handling them this week was a reminder of where this team really is. Still, there are positives: Jarrett Allen has evolved into a flat out beast of a rim protector (except against Noah Vonleh, somehow) and Caris LeVert continues to turn heads around the league.

25. Hawks (2-5, LW 26). While fans are tuning in to see Trae Young — who has good numbers but is up and down, as rookies tend to be — it is Taurean Prince that should be turning heads. In his third season he is averaging 16.7 points per game, and while his efficiency could be better he has become someone who can be a solid role player on a good team (but has to do more for the Hawks).

26. Magic (2-5, LW 19). There is only one team in the entire NBA scoring an average of less than one point per possession — and you guessed it, it’s Orlando. There are guys who can score on this team, but Nikola Vucevic has never been known as someone consistent, and Aaron Gordon is shooting a little less than he did a season ago but otherwise his numbers are just in line with before.

27. Bulls (2-5, LW 29).. If one player this season is making pundits and reporters eat crow, it’s Zach LaVine. Almost everyone (*raises hand*) ripped the $78 million offer sheet the Kings gave him, then were dumbfounded the Bulls matched. Yet through seven games he’s averaged 28.1 points per game, shot 38.6% from three, and has a PER of 22.7. He can’t defend, but if he can keep scoring like that it more than makes up for it — and makes that a not insane contract the Bulls agreed to.

28. Wizards (1-6, LW 20). Having watched this team in person, it’s hard to describe how bad things are for Washington. It’s not just the Xs and Os stuff — although they sluff their way through cuts and play half-hearted without the ball, especially John Wall — but its the chemistry issues. Bradley Beal gets knocked down going to the rim and no Wizard comes over to help him up so Tobias Harris has to. There are almost no high fives around the team pregame. Otto Porter might as well be on an island. Scott Brooks may find his seat getting hot, but the problems run well beyond what a coach can fix.

29. Suns (1-5, LW 27). Phoenix has the worst net rating in the NBA, with the third-worst defense and the sixth worst offense. Not picking up the fourth-year option on Dragan Bender was both the right move and a purging of the sins of the past administration. On the bright side, one move by the last GM looks good — Deandre Ayton is averaging 17.5 point and 10.3 rebounds a game, shooting 64.4 percent. He’s still learning how to defend, but he looks like he could be the franchise anchor the Suns were counting on.

30. Cavaliers (1-6, LW 30). Cleveland finally got a win, knocking off the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday. However, if you don’t have a coach — they fired Tyronn Lue over the weekend and Larry Drew has refused to take on the interim title without a healthy pay raise or some security — you don’t move to get out of the bottom of the rankings.

Last season, the Rockets’ “switch everything” defensive system had them sixth in the league in defense, and within one half of reaching the NBA Finals (and likely winning a title).

This season, the Rockets have started 1-4 after a loss Friday night at home to the Clippers, and Houston’s defense is the problem. They are allowing 9.1 more points per 100 possessions than last season, and they are really struggling to defend the pick-and-roll, allowing 113 points per 100 possessions on that play. The switching is not working, in part because Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute are gone, and in part because assistant coach in charge of the defense last season Jeff Bzdelik retired.

“We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and figure out what’s going to be the best solution for this team,” guard Chris Paul said after a 133-113 loss to the LA Clippers on Friday night….

“We’ve got to make some adjustments,” D’Antoni said. “We were switching, and obviously this team is different than last year, and they were busting us. We weren’t tied together. We’ll have two days of practice, so we’ll put some other things in and try to figure it out a little bit better. Our defense was just awful.

“We don’t have any continuity. We’re not figuring it out, and then the dam breaks and everybody struggles. But we’ve got two good days of practice. We’ll figure things out. We just dug ourselves a hole, and we’ve got to dig it out.”

Making sweeping changes midseason is difficult because NBA teams don’t practice that much. While the Rockets are off through the weekend until next Tuesday, that time should be more about rest and recovery during a long season than going over new defensive schemes.

Watch the Rockets and it’s clear their communication and recognition are just not the same as a year ago, it’s more than just a personnel issue. They look like a team that just hasn’t practiced defense that much, that isn’t focused on that end as an organization. Trading forJimmy Butler — if that were to happen, which seems unlikely — would help the roster issue, but the focus one is something else entirely. That’s on the locker room leaders, Chris Paul and James Harden, along with Mike D’Antoni.

A lot of people expected the Rockets to take a step back this season, but it may end up being a bigger one than anticipated.

With 1:25 left in the third quarter Thursday night, in a game that was still in doubt, James Harden motioned to Mike D’Antoni on the bench and asked out. He did not return due to what was then called a tight hamstring, and the Rockets eventually fell to the Jazz, 100-89.

Harden had an MRI on Thursday and was diagnosed with a grade 1 hamstring strain, which will be re-evaluated in about a week.

Re: Harden: A Grade 1+ strain means damage has occurred to individual muscle fibers but not to a high enough percentage to classify it as a Grade 2 or partial tear. These injuries usually accompanied by pain with movement but minimal functional loss.

The Rockets are already without James Ennis, who has a Grade 2 hamstring strain. While the Rockets say Ennis will be re-evaluated in a week, Grade 2 strains tend to keep players out 3-4 weeks, meaning it’s unlikely he plays on the five-game road trip that starts Nov. 2.

On the bright side, the Rockets will get back Chris Paul for Friday’s game, back from his two-game suspension for having the unmitigated gall to stand up for himself when Rajon Rondo spit on him. (Read the end of that last sentence again in a sarcastic voice before commenting.)

What did Chris Paul learn during his 2-game suspension? “I learned that it’s expensive sitting out two games,” he cracked.

The Rockets are off to a rocky 1-3 start with both an offense and a defense in the bottom 11 of the NBA. While the offense will right itself once everyone gets healthy, there were questions about the defense going into the season after the team gave up Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute (and, maybe more importantly, assistant coach and defensive coordinator Jeff Bzdelik). Those problems have looked worse than expected, the Rockets’ communication on switches and comfort level in the defensive system is not the same.

It’s a long season, the Rockets have time to get guys healthy and figure out the defense. But right now, they do not look like the team that was up at half of Game 7 against the Warriors in the playoffs last season.